Locks of hair
A group of scientists presented a study that made a genomic analysis of locks of hair known to be from Beethoven.
Friends!
Couple of days ago a scientific paper was released by Current Biology. Scientists analyzed eight locks of hair, all of them claimed to be from Beethoven. Aim of the project was to find answers on a few questions music lovers and Beethoven fans often have on mind, like what caused his death, what genetic weaknesses he carried, what caused his deafness and about his ancestry.
From the eight locks five proved to be almost certainly authentic as they not only matched perfectly, but most of them have well documented history and clear chain of custody.
The research did not reveal any groundbreaking information on his health, but rather confirmed the ones biographers presented as facts or almost certainty.
One interesting part of the study is on his ancestry. Over the years many speculations were circulating on his family background, if he was of African ancestry or not. In Popular Beethoven we published an article some years ago, in which we accepted the possibility of a partly Moorish roots, based on accounts on his darker than usual Rhine Country (present day North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany) skin color. This research now closes this speculation with a scientific answer.
Read the complete article: Genomic analyses of hair from Beethoven – March 2023
If each lock of your hair has a name and are sometimes sold on international actions, you can be assured that you are famous! There are more than thirty known locks that are said to be of Beethoven. The research above used eight of them. These are to be considered the most authentic or important ones that we know of. Interestingly, these all have a unique history.
Closely related to the first article, in a follow-up post we covered why people cut and keep locks and the history of these specific Beethoven locks of hair.
Read the complete article: Famous Beethoven hair locks